Grand Forks AFB conducts annual firefighter training

by Senior Airman Xavier Navarro
319th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

7/17/2014 - GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- The 319th Civil Engineer Squadron firefighters reunited with the Grand Forks City Fire Department for annual fire training here that lasted four days.

Grand Forks City Fire Department offered to let the base fire department use their mobile fire training trailer simulator.

Tech. Sgt. Byron Ball, 319th Civil Engineer Squadron firefighter, is no stranger to training with the local fire departments.

"We teamed up with Larimore firefighters a while back to do live house fire training," said Ball. "Today we had a trainer who was from the City of Grand Forks fire department."

The live fire training involves a team of two with full firefighter gear and a fire hose that sprays a rate of 100 per square inch of water. When the team enters through the doors they first encounter a range fire that simulates a kitchen fire and then move on to a bedroom fire while using proper safety precautions and effective communication.

Senior Airman Tyrique Jackson, 319th Civil Engineer Squadron firefighter, was one of the 46 firefighters who participated in the required annual training.

"In real life we have stove fires and roof fires," said Jackson. "So basically we are doing the same thing inside there that we would do in the real world."

The training garnered positive feedback from base firefighters.

"When you first enter the building you don't exactly know what you're really going to get," said Ball. "Your heart's pumping because this is the kind of stuff you love and you train for."